Adrian, 45, told the Radio Times: "I remember one occasion in Berne when we were covering an England game.

"It was an evening kick-off so that morning when Lee and I were out for a stroll, we spotted these people floating down this fast-flowing river. We thought we'd have some of that, so later that afternoon we walked down to the river in just our swimming trunks. Which in itself must have looked very odd.

"We jumped in and were swept off down the river. I can recall going past these beery England fans in a riverside cafe who did a classic comedy double-take at the sight of us two bobbing past.

"And then it suddenly dawned on us that we were going to struggle to get out of this torrent."

Lee told the magazine: "Fortunately we both managed to grab an overhanging branch and pull ourselves out. But we very nearly had to do that game by live satellite link from the Black Sea or wherever the river would have spat us out."

Asked whether there was anything that they find annoying about each other, Adrian said: "Lee is an extremely cultured and civilised individual, but the other half of him was brought up in the harsh dressing-room environment in which goading and mickey-taking is a way of life. That can be quite hurtful."